Every
day millions across the country navigate to government webpages, to
read pertinent information. Since
2000 that access has been safeguarded, thanks to a prohibition on
government websites using cookies or other tracking technology to
track users. Agency exceptions could only be granted under
cases of "compelling need".

Now
the Obama
administration
is looking to overturn
that prohibition
and potentially begin harvesting a wealth of data on its citizen's
activities. Under the plan, the prohibition would be replaced
with a set of privacy provisions. Aides say that it would
increase government transparency and "increase public
involvement".

The
measure, though, has many opponents. The American Civil
Liberties Union spokesman Michael Macleod-Ball commented that the
measure would "allow the mass collection of personal information
of every user of a federal government website."

Other
opponents dislike that the government may be looking to revoke the
protections at the request of search-engine
giant Google
and other parties. The Electronic Privacy Information Center
and Electronic Frontier Foundation, both of which oppose the measure,
pointed to a February 19 contract with Google and an unnamed federal
agency over an exemption to use the
YouTube player.

EPIC
retrieved the proposed changes, negotiated by the General Services
Administration, through a Freedom of Information Act request and says
they "expressly waive those rules or guidelines as they may
apply to Google." States EPIC Executive Director Marc
Rotenberg, "Our primary concern is that the GSA has failed to
protect the privacy rights of U.S. citizens. The expectation is
they should be complying with the government regulations, not that
the government should change its regulations to accommodate these
companies."

Currently,
government content is banned from having tracking cookies, but
third-party content, such as YouTube videos on federal websites may
have tracking cookies. Google spokeswoman Christine Chen
declined to discuss the new rules, but thanked the government for its
use of YouTube, stating, "[The use of YouTube] is just one
example of how government and citizens communicate more effectively
online, and we are proud of having worked closely with the White
House to provide privacy protections for users."

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Ben said that when the chicken hearted his in their homes and refused to fight the British. Their temporary safety was their home cowering, the essential liberty they were giving up was their surrender to British forces, and Ben thought they deserved no benefit for cowering in their homes. Our modern tree hugging liberal braindead liars loved to use that hprase as a metaphor for fighting the Patriot Act, as they screamed for world peace and surrender to terror forces in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and the USA and in Gitmo and elsewhere. I always thought that perfectly showed just how ignorant the parroting sheeple who pretend to understand anything at all actually are.